1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for knitting an double jersey fabric including a rib knitting such as Milano rib by use of a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds and a yarn feeder, and to a fabric knitted by the method. Especially, the present invention is directed to improvements in beauty of side edges or hems of the knitted fabric and in productivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Milano rib is known as one of double jersey fabrics including rib knitting. The Milano rib has a basic knitting structure formed by the knitting of three courses of a back plain knitting, a front plain knitting and a rib knitting and has the advantage that by repetition of the basic knitting, excessive horizontal stretchability of the fabric which would be caused by the exclusive use of the rib knitting can be prevented by the plain knitting, to ensure form-stability of the fabric. The fabrics having this advantage are used as a material for collars and knitted suits.
Shown in FIG. 6 is a known knitting step of the Milano rib. This knitting step is the so-called single knitting in which a yarn is used in each forward movement or backward movement of a carriage, so that only a single course is knitted. The basic knitting of the Milano rib is completed with three movements of the carriage. As illustrated, in the step 1, a yarn (a yarn feeder) is moved to the outside of the fabric on the right-hand side and is fed to needles a-n of a back needle bed, for the knitting of a first back plain knitting course 101 of the Milano rib. In the step 2, the carriage is reversed to move the yarn to the outside of the fabric on the left-hand side, so as to feed the yarn to the needles M-A of a front needle bed, for the knitting of the next front plain knitting course 102. In the step 3, the carriage is reversed again to move the yarn to the outside of the fabric on the right-hand side, so as to feed the yarn zigzag to the needles A-M of the front needle bed and the needles a-n of the back needle bed, for the knitting of the rib knitting course 103. The knitting shown in the steps 1-3 are repeated to knit subsequent courses 104, 105, 106 . . . , so that the fabric having the Milano rib as a knitting structure is produced. In this known method, no particular process is given to the side edges of the fabric.
The structure of the knitted loops of the Milano rib thus knitted is shown in FIG. 7 viewed from the above of the needle beds of the flat knitting machine.
A needle n of the back needle bed is used in starting to knit the back plain knitting course 104 subsequent to the rib knitting course 103, and the needle is the same as the needle last used in knitting the rib knitting course 103. Because of this, a prolongation 110 will extend from a knitted loop 103n formed at the end of the rib knitting to the subsequent knitted loop 104n formed in the same wale. The same phenomenon presents in the form of a prolongation 111 between the subsequent rib knitting course 106 and the subsequent rib knitting course 107. When the double jersey fabric including the rib knitting, not limited to the Milano rib, is knitted, it is inevitable that the same needle is introduced in the knitting of a succession of courses as mentioned above. This causes the prolongation to protrude outward at the side edges of the fabric, thus becoming a cause of spoiling the beauty of the fabric at the side edges thereof. Also, because of the knitting by the single knitting, the productivity is significantly reduced.
It may be a practical way for improved productivity that the double knitting using two yarns or the triple knitting using three yarns is used as a substitute for the abovesaid single knitting. However, such a way involves the occurrence of the prolongation, combined with the phenomenon of the yarns entangling among themselves at the side edges of the fabric, thus producing the disadvantage of further spoiling the beauty of the fabric.